Social Liberal Party (Kirlawa)
The Social Liberal Party (SLP) is a center-left party in Kirlawa. Its policies include a commitment to progressive social values, the creation and maintenance of a strong military and intelligence service to protect the country, and devolution of power away from the central government and towards the provinces. Internal tensions and the merger of the party with the Reform-Independent Party, as well as declining electoral success, saw the party's fortunes wither in the 2460s. However, the Independent Liberal Party, formed largely of ex-members of the SLP, has been established to continue the SLP legacy. History Early Formation Electoral Success Internal Tensions As the party began to gain more electoral success, internal tensions began to show. Starting in the early 2450s, factions began to form within the parliamentary caucus. The most important of these were the idealist faction, led by Ó Franklinn and de Galway, and the pragmatist faction, led by Patrick Robinson and Deaclain Ó Callaghan. While the idealist faction was dominant at the annual party conference, as many rank-and-file members of the party identified with this group, the pragmatist faction held a slim majority of the SLP seats in parliament. For this reason, Robinson was able to have himself elected Prime Minister by the caucus in front of Ó Franklinn when the SLP formed government in December of 2456. He was however, obliged to include some idealist faction members in his cabinet, most notably Chalice Tûek. Robinson proved unpopular with many SLP voters, and falling opinion polls were one of the main drivers for the party's merger with the R-IP. Merger Although the SLP had more parliamentary representation than the R-IP, the R-IP was better financed and in the opinions of party leaders, better organised. In particular, the structure of the R-IP was considered to be less susceptible to factionalism. de Galway was in poor health by 2460, and agreed to resign to allow Chorus Yorke, the preferred candidate of the pragmatist faction and the R-IP, a clear shot at being elected. Yorke's campaign was a success and he was duly elected, but the internal tensions caused the new coalition to suffer badly at the polls. Robinson in particular attracted a lot of criticism for the poor result, and quietly retired as an SL-RI Coalition member at the next general election. Timeline *2436: Party founded, Carraig Ó Franklinn elected first party leader. *2440: Party first wins seats in national legislature. *2453: After a poor showing in the general election, Ó Franklinn resigns as leader. Ciaran de Galway elected as party leader. *2457: Following a good election performance, SLP forms a coalition government with R-IP. Patrick Robinson is installed as the SLP's first Prime Minister. *2458: Ciaran de Galway elected President of Kirlawa in a close election, deposing Tidus Joyce of Life Love Happiness. *2460: SLP merges with the Reform-Independent Party. Chorus Yorke is nominated as the candidate of the unified coalition, and wins the presidency. *2470: Following the electoral failure of the SL-RI Coalition, Chalice Tûek and other ex-members of the SLP form the Independent Liberal Party with plans of contesting the 2472 election. Category:Kirlawan Parties Category:Social Liberal Party